On Writing: Handling Mythology

So I recently watched the 2019 reboot of Hellboy and scathing reviews aside there was an interesting aspect to it which kind of reminded me of my own first ever novel manuscript I done wrote.

One of the amateur elements of my work was trying to incorp just about every fantasy element I could think of, I had Werewolves, Paladins, Witches, a Manticore, Faeries and possibly a psychic. In the words of a professional editor I asked for feedback from “it was all a bit much” (2019 Hellboy is similar, it packed with such about every mythos you ever heard of but never feels settled on anything)

Mythology of course is pretty complex at the best of times, see below, but there are ways and means of doing it well, I think…

All or Nothing

What I’ve observed if there really are two extremes of mythology being incorporated into writing, either its all go, or the world is gently introduced. Good examples of radical and far-reaching mythology can be seen in series like Pratchett’s Discworld, Harry Potter (sort of, Rowling is pretty original with a lot of her stuff). In these books pretty much everything is there and is there right from the get go. The trick I believe is in not trying to have any ‘normal’ included and ensuring there are some internal rules to prevent duex ex machina every second from something mystical.

On the other side are books like Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles, or True Blood where lots of other supernatural beasts are introduced, but pretty slowly over a series which primarily explores vampires.

I guess my point is that not so much that mythology has to be all or nothing, but rather that each extreme requires different world-building and characterization. I think one reason Hellboy 2019 jarred was because there was just a ridiculous amount of magic stuff going on, but it was trying to depict a real world with hidden underground magic stuff (hard to pull off when giants are real and in Great Britain).

Characterizing not Proselytizing

The other tricky element to pull off is making the mythology relevant to the character. I say tricky because its often presented as an MC being some sort of chosen one, or lynchpin to a world-ending scheme which seems relevant to the character, but I’m thinking its more about making the myths relevant to character goals and actions beyond just being excuses for action and special effects.

Like many writers I love mythology, however I suspect many of us get caught up in showing off our well-read myth chops rather than making relevant stories…

 

 

Do you guys have any examples of mythology done great in writing? How about terrible?

(how about have any of you seen the latest Hellboy, what did you think?)

 

On Writing: Author’s Intentions

I’m still reading through Phillip Pullman’s Daemon Voices (which overall is amazing and highly recommended as an ‘on writing’ resource) and the piece Intention stood out as particularly interesting. The point of the piece stems from the perhaps infamous essay Death of the Author which speaks about removing the intentions, purpose or believing meaning from the author and analysis a work purely on its own.

Being not really that versed in literary analysis, I’m hesitant to make too many points, however it seems to me that this notion has remained controversial since the 60’s and has continued to be a subject of discussion not only about writing, but also film making and other mediums.

 

It’s really hard to pick where I stand on the idea, I definitely think that part of the point of a piece of writing, is indeed for it to take on a life of its own, whether that be around a works reception or meaning.

However on the other hand there just seems something really quite weird about considering a author’s intention separate from their work. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get the possibility of accidental allusions and metaphors or the interesting phenomenon where a work becomes more relevant in future time periods (for example, 1984, Handmaids tale and Brave New World all spring to mind).

Also there is the embarrassing effect of when an author’s intention goes somewhat awry, for example Allan Moore author of Watchmen has been pretty clear that Rorschach is not a role model, and not the moral centre of his story – yet many appear to consider him to be so, and/or a reasonable protagonist. While that’s a very specific example it cuts right to the heart of the question – does Moore’s opinion count? Like I said it feels pretty weird to not consider his intention in this case. Yet the are also examples of good literature that has had intense important impacts beyond author intention. Frankenstein was apparently supposed to be more about parenthood and forgiveness, but obviously has had abundant meaningful impact across Science, AI, playing God and such – would we shut down such thoughts if the author did not intend it?

Finally there is that ongoing concern of trying to hard to control the meaning of one’s own work tends to fail miserably – especially if the intention is some form of moralizing or preaching. Readers don’t like to hear the authors true voice in their fiction!

I think where I settle is that the author is a major component of consideration in discussing the meaning of a work, however I don’t think intention sets the full limits and terms of analysis.

 

Thoughts?